One common form of low friction bushing utilizing Teflon comprises a bonding resin impregnated fabric woven of Teflon threads and bondable threads which fabric is cut into strips of determined length and width, wrapped around a mandrel and then an overlay of resin and glass fibers is injection molded about the fabric to form a bushing. Instead of utilizing strips of fabric whose ends must be carefully matched to provide a smooth continuous bearing surface, U.S. Pat. No. 2,906,573 suggests that the Teflon and bonding threads may be woven into the form of a sleeve or tube and with a bonding resin may be secured to a metal surface to form a bushing. U.S. Pat. No. 2,953,418 suggested a bushing made by winding plural layers of a Teflon thread (surrounded by a helical winding of a bondable thread) helically onto a mandrel and then overwinding such layers with additional bondable thread, all such thread having been previously impregnated with a bonding resin. The wound structure is subjected to a resin curing temperature and the bondable thread portion of the structure is supposed to shrink and thereby apply a high pressure to the inner layers as the resin cures. While bushings made utilizing the fabric strips have enjoyed considerable commercial success, the other methods above mentioned have never become commercially successful.
Among the disadvantages of the bushings made utilizing the woven fabric strips are the problems in handling the strips and matching the cut edges to provide a continuous smooth bearing surface; the problem of attaining uniform resin impregnation of the fabric; and because of the foregoing and other problems the cost of such bushings is quite high. In the case of the other approaches to bushing manufacture mentioned above, structural integrity and uniformity of finished product could not be reliably attained.